Will you pull the plug on Facebook to save your battery?
A few months ago, we reported that Facebook was in the process of fixing the battery drain issue experienced by a number of users. While there have been updates to the popular social networking app since then, it is clear that according to recent testing the battery drain problem remains.
In a post published today, Feb. 8, on The Guardian, the testing showed that uninstalling the iOS Facebook app increased battery life by 15 percent. The testing was conducted over the span of two weeks using an iPhone 6s Plus; one week with Facebook installed and one without.
From Samuel Gibbs, The Guardian:
Using an iPhone 6S Plus for a week without the main Facebook app installed, I recorded the battery life at 10.30pm each day for a week comparing it to a daily average taken from a week with the app. I charged the phone overnight, taking it off the charger at 7.30am, and used it normally. I accessed Facebook for the same amount of time, and for the same purposes, using the social network’s excellent mobile site within Safari, as I had done using the app. I also left the Facebook Messenger app installed.
In the same article, Gibbs goes on to say:
On average I had 15% more battery left by 10.30pm each day. I had also saved space, because at the point I had deleted the Facebook app it had consumed around 500MB in total combining the 111MB of the app itself and its cache on the iPhone.
Gibbs also mentioned that he enlisted the help of other iPhone users to perform similar tests and the results were comparable.
As mentioned by both Gibbs and AppAdvice’s Brent Dirks, an alternative to using the main Facebook app is simply accessing the site using Safari on your iPhone. So, if you are experiencing a noticeable battery drain, will you uninstall the app and visit your Facebook friends on Safari instead?
For more news today, see: How to improve Apple iPad sales in 3 simple steps, Apple TV racing fans can drift and race off-road in Go Rally, and Cord cutters frustrated over Super Bowl 50 streaming problems.
